Make Your Voice Heard

By Steve Roling on February 19, 2013Inaugural President and CEOHealth Forward Foundation

The Missouri House Democrats have produced a bill on how they would like expand Medicaid in compliance with the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Next week, we are told, the House Republicans will also propose a bill that will likely take a different approach to this expansion. This is wonderful news … and this is the way democracy is supposed to work.

Hopefully the House leadership will allow full discussion and debate in the various committees and on the House floor on the pros and cons of each approach. So, hopefully, we are past the hurdle of trying to decide if we should expand Medicaid … hopefully we are now fully engaged in discussing how the majority of lawmakers want to expand Medicaid.

The Missouri Senate has not been as open to discussion about this issue. But maybe after the House shows leadership, the Senate will decide to consider the legislation that is approved by the House.

In Kansas, the rhetoric is still pretty harsh but there is hope that Governor Brownback will provide leadership to convince the Kansas lawmakers to take advantage of this wonderful way to expand medical coverage to poor people and to at the same time revive the economy.

What is missing, it seems to me, is the vocal pressure from all of us to contact our elected officials and encourage them to support the expansion of Medicaid. Without the consistent input of the general public, we cannot expect our legislators to act in a manner that is consistent with our hopes and dreams.

Please take time this week to contact your local state officials and let them know how you feel about the expansion of Medicaid.

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